Rabat - Award-winning Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun said this weekend that Moroccans voted for the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) during the October 7th elections because they “do not know the meaning of real democracy.”

Rabat – Award-winning Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun said this weekend that Moroccans voted for the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) during the October 7th elections because they “do not know the meaning of real democracy.”

The Fes-born writer had been speaking at an Academy of France seminar, during which he bashed the PJD’s “racist” and “anti-gay” political ploys, while acknowledging that the 2011 constitution laid out a path for further democratization.

The Paris-based author said the quality of Moroccan elections had greatly improved since the reign of King Hassan II – “when results were known even before the elections were held.”

“It’s not just about voting, but voting for good people,” Ben Jelloun, who studied at the University of Rabat, explained. “I consider that Moroccan Islamists prevent new developments and progress in the country.”

The poor state of the kingdom’s education system, which does not deliver the education the Moroccan youth deserve, leads to the election of Islamist parties, Ben Jelloun argued.

“Justice is corrupt and everything is for sale and purchase, all principles and values,” he added.

PJD Head of Government Abdelilah Benkirane, who is currently forming the coalition that will rule the country for the next five years, said earlier this year that the Islamic nature of Morocco would prevent gay marriage from ever becoming legal in the kingdom.

“These same governments want to force all countries to adopt this cause,” he said in February. “This is not in the interest of the individual, the family and is not acceptable in our religion.”